On the Necessity of Gardening is not your everyday gardening book. It tells the story of the garden as a rich source of inspiration. Over the centuries, artists, writers, poets and thinkers have each described, depicted and designed the garden in different ways. In medieval art, the garden was a reflection of paradise, a place of harmony and fertility, shielded from worldly problems. In the eighteenth century this image tilted: the garden became a symbol of worldly power and politics. The Anthropocene, the era in which man completely dominates nature with disastrous consequences, is forcing us to radically rethink the role we have given nature in recent decades. There is a renewed interest in the theme of the garden among contemporary makers. It is not a romantic desire that drives them, but rather a call for a new awareness of our relationship with the earth. Through many different essays and an extensive abecedarian, On the Necessity of Gardening reflects on the garden as a metaphor for society.

Editor: Laurie Cluitmans

Contributors: Maria Barnas, Jonny Bruce, Laurie Cluitmans, Thiëmo Heilbron, Liesbeth M. Helmus, Erik A. de Jong, René de Kam, Alhena Katsof, Jamaica Kincaid, Bart Rutten, Catriona Sandilands, Patricia de Vries
Design: Bart de Baets 

June 2021, Valiz in collaboration with Centraal Museum, Utrecht | supported by Creative Industries Fund NL, Stichting Jaap Harten Fonds, De Gijselaar-Hintzenfonds NL, dr. Hendrik Mullerfonds | Pb | 240 pp. | H 32 - W 24 cm | English | ISBN 978-94-93246-00-3